Spandex production is anticipated to gradually ascend in Q4

There will be above 110kt/year of new spandex capacity to be launched in the second half of 2021 in Chinese mainland and it may bring about 30kt of production increase according to the startup time. By Sep 26, the operating rate of spandex plants declined to 93% from 97% in end-Aug. The control of total amount and the intensity of energy consumption is expected to affect spandex supply in short run. Some spandex plants scaled down production by around 10-40%. Xiamen Lilong suspended production due to the pandemic, affecting near 2% of spandex operation rate. Most old spandex units are still expected to run at above 90% of capacity and new units will gradually start operation. Spandex production is anticipated to gradually ascend in Q4.